Bafana Bafana captain Dean Furman, May Mahlangu and defender Anele Ngcongca will miss the two international friendly matches against Swaziland and Nigeria due to club commitments and injuries.
Furman’s English Championship club Doncaster Rovers pleaded with the SA Football Association (Safa) to excuse the player from the matches as they require his services amid a hectic league scheduled. Safa acceded to the requested and there will be no replacement.
Ngcongca’s club has informed Bafana Bafana that the player is suffering from an Achilles tendon and will not be able to honour the national team call-up. Dr Thulani Ngwenya has spoken to their medical team and club will forward the scan results for the team doctor to peruse.
Also out injured is May Mahlangu, who is recovering in South Africa and reported for camp on Sunday where he was checked by the team medico, Ngwenya and has since been released from camp due to a fractured foot bone.
Twenty-four Bafana Bafana players have reported for national team duty ahead of the two friendly international matches against Swaziland and Nigeria.
South Africa faces neighbours Swaziland on Wednesday, 25 March at the Somhlolo Stadium, kicking off at 19h00, and four days later (Sunday, 29 March) will welcome Nigeria at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit. Kick-off is at 15h30.
The players assembled for camp on Sunday, 22 March and will conduct their first training session in Johannesburg on Monday afternoon (23 March).
The team was expected to depart for Swaziland today but have had to postpone their travel to Tuesday (24 March) due to some players only expected to arrive tonight – Denmark-based Lebogang Phiri as well as Holland-based Thulani Serero and Kamohelo Mokotjo.
“We have called up 30 players and have covered every position, so we will not replace any of those who are unable to come to camp. I think it is also a blessing in disguise in that we will be able to test out the players we have called-up – for instance Dean has been playing with Andile in the middle of the park, so it would be great to see who else could fill in that role. To be frank we would have loved to have all players available but seeing it is not possible we have to move on,” said Bafana Bafana head coach Ephraim Shakes Mashaba.
“Also on the question of Dean, we have accepted the request because we want to build relations with these clubs. It is important that when they have a request like this we should consider it favourably because in future we will be the ones needing to make a request to these clubs.”
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